General wiring AWG?

[DartSwinger]

What gauge wiring does everyone generally use under the hood? I see a lot of different opinions online and wanted to hear from you guys.

Also I've had some 24 white black red green hooked up to my tach as I've Googled around and seen others use 22-24 for that, and it works fine, but I'm thinking I should swap it for lower just to be on the safe side. I know it's not for a large stereo amp or anything, but not sure if it's a real problem with a tach or similar instrument. Thanks.

 

[ramcharger]

AWG stands for American Wire Gauge and there are specific loads that any gauge can carry for any distance. I did post a chart once, let me see if i can find it.

Your tach signal wire carries a very low current but high voltage and 22-24 should be fine for that as long as it's not in danger of grounding out from rubbing, which will kill your car at the worst moment. Any wire run through a firewall should be run through a grommet.

Here you go! http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

 

[DartSwinger]

Thanks that's helpful.

 

[dgc333]

Your tach signal wire carries a very low current but high voltage and 22-24 should be fine for that as long as it's not in danger of grounding out from rubbing, which will kill your car at the worst moment.

FYI, the tach wire carries a voltage of less than 12 volts. The ballast resistor cuts the voltage to the coil down to around 8 volts and the signal on the tach wire is going to be that minus the voltage drop through the coil.

I agree 22-24 guage wire is more than enough and most automotive wire you purchase has insulation rated for either 300 volts or 600 volts.